€ 3.5 billion real estate invesmtent product available in CEE

Budapest, 18th April 2011: Cushman & Wakefield reports that in excess of € 3.5 billion of investment product is being actively offered for sale in the core CE markets of Poland, Czech & Slovakia and Hungary. This is marginally up on the previous quarter.

Seller type is split equally between developers seeking to exit and investors wishing to trade on, although the latter is starting to take advantage of the improving market with increased investor interest and improving pricing driven largely by yield compression.

Significantly, the retail sector accounts for almost half of the volume at €1.7 billion with at least 4 shopping centers currently being marketed each with lot sizes exceeding €200 million. In terms of geographical spread, Poland continues to dominate, accounting for € 2.05 billion (58%).

Commenting on the seemingly high levels of supply in Central Europe, Charles Taylor, Partner, Cushman & Wakefield added “There remains, however, a lack of core product in the capital cities, particularly in the office sector, with owners preferring to hold ‘best of class’ buildings in anticipation that the market will continue to improve in their favour. In Hungary availability levels remain low. This is expected to change, as activity levels increase, aided by improving fundamentals and investor sentiment, and particularly the sizeable pricing discount that is currently available relative to the Polish and Czech markets.”